To Receive a Gift
by LostInEnigmas
Summary: And through the use of irony, the two young foolish lovers come to discover that to give a gift is a thousand times better than to receive one. One shot. All human.


Ever since he was young, the only thing on Edward's mind was getting an education and becoming a surgeon like his fathers, his father's father, and every father before him. And every since he was young, it was driven into Edward's head that med school was expensive, and money was precious. Edward would see all those kids in school throwing away all their money because they were in "love", and he could never fathom how they justified wasting their money on things as minor as this. How they could be spending precious money that could be used as a college fund on things such as jewelry and foolish teddy bears on Valentine 's Day. To Edward it was never about being popular, never about being a star football player, and never ever about falling in love.

As the time for getting into college grew nearer, Edward became more and more nervous. He has been saving up every penny since he was 15, and now as a 17 year old about to graduate high school early, he only had about $10,000 in the bank. He knew he would need a lot more to get into college. Granted, his parents were willing to help him pay for college, Edward had a pathological need to do it on his own. With only about 5 months of school left, Edward knew what he would need to do. It was time for a second job.

About a week after his revelation, Edward found himself wondering around lower Manhattan in a pair of his favorite blue jeans, and a crisp new button up shirt. He felt like a piece of paper, drifting in the wind. Not quite sure where he was going, but resigned to let the wind take him where it pleases. As he was wandering around the city, his head was swiveling around, desperately searching for a "Help Wanted" sign in a window. Right as he was about to give up and go home, he saw it in the window of the Manhattan Diner. "Help Wanted" was scrawled in messy, but surprisingly pleasant handwriting, and it was hanging in the window. Like a bug attracted to light, Edward all but sprinted to the diner.

Once inside, he felt himself instantly melt into the homey décor of the place. The smell of coffee was ever present, and his eyes as well as nose, were instantly attracted to the stand of deserts next to the cash register. His mouth immediately started watering, and he couldn't help but think that this would be the ideal place to work. As he looked at the cashier, he could feel his heart beat start to pick up, and his palms were instantly sweating.

The cashier was the most heartbreakingly beautiful women that he had ever seen. With her porcelain pale skin, thick eyelashes surrounding her bright brown eyes, and cascading dark brown hair, Edward couldn't fathom why she was working at a diner, and not as a model for New York's top designers. Taking deep nervous breaths and wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans, Edward stumbled across the room to the gorgeous girl. When she saw him, she smiled showing her perfectly white teeth, and Edward near passed out. 'Snap out of it!' Edward snapped mentally to himself. Edward never reacted this foolishly to girls, and he wasn't about to make a complete idiot out of himself to this angle.

"Yes…. Umm." Edward paused, and started over. "My name is Edward Cullen, and I noticed that you have a help wanted sign. And umm… I need a job…?" Edward's sentence trailed off in a question.

The beautiful girl gave a musical giggle and smiled at his awkwardness. "Why hello there Edward! My name is Bella, and yes there is a job available. It's just a position for a waiter, nothing to horribly exciting, but we could use a few extra hands around here. When could you come in?"

Edward sluggishly blinked, sidetracked by the musical quality in the girls voice, then shook his head and answered quickly. "I have a second job on weekends, but I could work week night?" Again, his sentence ended in a question.

"Sounds perfect!" Bella said with her toothpaste commercial worthy smile. "My dad owns this little old diner, I'm sure he would love a smart looking boy like you! Welcome aboard Edward! You start Monday!"

Edward had been working at the Manhattan Diner for about a month now and he absolutely loved it! Though he told himself it was because of the great pay, he knew the real reason was because he was slowly, but surely, falling in love with Bella. She had been absolutely wonderful, helping Edward with just about everything associated with the Diner. She had taken him under her wing, and the more time he spent with her, the more in love he fell with the little things she did. Edward found himself thinking less and less about collage and more and more about when he would have a chance to ask Bella on a date.

The perfect opportunity soon arose: Bella's birthday. It was Monday night and her birthday was that coming Friday, and it was Edward's time to make his move. After about 5 minutes of jumbled talke, stuttered questions, and many palm swipes on his jeans, Edward had a secured date with Bella and he felt like he was on top of the world.

Their first date was a huge awkward mess of glances across the table, fidgets with cloth and hair, and intense battles over who was going to pay the check. Though it didn't go as smoothly as Edward had wanted it to, Bella had asked him to go out again, and Edward had perhaps a little to excitedly, agreed.

Now it was two months since their first date, and Edward and Bella were going strong. They acted as all first loves did; late night conversations, prolonging lunch breaks to spend together, and buying each other meaningless nik-naks whenever given the chance. Edward had been the first to start giving presents. It started off as simple flowers, but as there relationship grew, so did the presents. Edward found himself taking money out of his trust fund to buy more extravagant gifts, promising himself that he would put the money back in. Bella found herself overwhelmed with teddy bears, flowers, jewelry, cards, expensive dinners and everything a girl could wish for.

At first, Edward didn't realize how much money he was spending. He didn't realize how much of his college fund was being depleted because of all the jewelry and cloth that he was showering Bella with. But then, about 3 days before Valentine 's Day, it all came crashing down on Edward. When he was at the bank to take some money out of his trust fund for a jewelry set for Bella, he realized that of the $10,000 he had in the bank, only about $5,000 remained. Edward could not comprehend what happened. He had been so careful saving up all his money! It must be a mistake, he must have been robbed! But then oh….oh! It was Bella! Edward finally understood, all those bank withdrawals, all the money he promised to put back. It was gone. His future was gone. Poof! All because he was in love, all because he had met an angles.

As Edward lay in bed that night, the tears rolled down his face. That dream, to become a surgeon, it was gone. All the money he spent a lifetime saving was gone. But it wasn't all lost, Edward thought. The money was spent on Bella… he still had Bella. Sure, now he couldn't go to med school as he had always wanted to, but he had Bella. He could get some money from his parents, and on top of his $5,000, and maybe some scholarships, he could go to community college. All wasn't lost, Edward thought, and with pictures of Bella in his mind, Edward falls asleep.

On Valentine 's Day, Edward and Bella decided to keep it simple, and agreed to have dinner at the Diner where they met and fell in love at. After a diner filled with giggles, and glances across the table, the time for presents came. Bella gave Edward a teddy bear holding a heart that said "I Love You", and though it wasn't much, he loved it. Then it was Edward's turn, and without meeting Bella's eyes, he gave her a handmade card with the words "I'm sorry" written on it. Bella looked at Edward with unreadable eyes.

"I don't…. I don't understand." She said softly. "Why are you sorry?"

"Because I can't do it anymore," Edward said sadly. "I can't keep giving you all the things I want to. I can't keep giving you all the presents I want to give you. Did you ever wonder where the money for those present came from?" Edward asked with pain in his eyes.

"Yes I did, but I always assumed you just had money. I don't understand Edward. Where…. Where did the money come from?" Bella's asked, somewhat fearfully.

Edward didn't answer right away but then he said quietly, "My trust fund. Bella, it came from my college money. And now I don't have enough money to go to school. Bella, I'm sorry!" And with the image of Bella's eyes wide in shock, and mouth dropped open, Edward made his way as quickly as possible out of the diner.

After the disastrous valentines day, Edward somewhat ignored Bella. He didn't show up to work the next day, and refused to answer her phone calls. Edward felt horrible for ignoring her, but he didn't want her to feel guilty about his college money being gone. Edward spent his days locked in his room, not talking to anyone, trying to get student loans and trying to find a med school that didn't have a high tuition. This cycle continued for 3 days until Bella showed up at his bedroom door demanding to be let in.

"Edward! Edward! Open this door right now! Ignoring me won't solve anything! Edward please I'm sorry! Edward-" Her sentence got cut short by Edward opening the door. Edward started at Bella, she looked a mess. Her usually bright brown eyes seemed dull, and she had bags under her eyes. Edward hadn't realized how much he missed her, and immediately pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry Bella! So so so so so sorry! I didn't mean to lock you out, it's just, I had no money and I panicked and I didn't know what to do, and don't think I regret spending the money! I don't, I promise I don't regret making you happy! I regret not being wise about it and I'm sorry." Edward rushed out his words as if Bella would disappear if he didn't finish.

"I understand," Bella said with a small smile. "You're just a fool in love, and I'm sorry I didn't start declining your gifts. I loved them all but I should have realized how pricey they were getting. And that is why I have this." Her smile grew bigger as she pulled out on envelope, and she handed it to him.

Confused, Edward opened the envelope, and his mouth opened in shock. In his hands was a check for $5,000.

"I… what… No! I can't expect this! It's too much! Bella I can't take your money!"

Bella's smile impossible widened, "It's not my money, it's your!" Seeing Edward's confused face she continued. "All your gifts, all the beautiful cloth and jewelry you bought me. I sold it all. It wasn't right for you to spend all that money on me. You future will be brighter than any diamond ring you could give me. And that's why I want you to take this money, this present from me to you, and become the best surgeon Manhattan has ever seen."

And that is the moment that the two foolish young lovers came to realize that to give a gift is a thousand times more important than to receive one.

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><p>Hi everyone! Long time no see, eh? So I had to write a story about irony as an assignment for school and this is what I came up with! I thought it would be fun to put up on FanFiction and see what people thought about it so I hoped you enjoyed it! Please review! I would love to hear your thoughts(:<p>

Oh and the original characters of the story were named Chet and Julie, so if I missed changing a name in the story I apologize!

Review please3


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